


The Boy Who Played with Water

by BeamMeUpCas



Series: Silva Sibling Series [1]
Category: Black Clover - Tabata Yuki (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Protective Siblings, Where are the adults?!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-24
Updated: 2020-02-24
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:01:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22884436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeamMeUpCas/pseuds/BeamMeUpCas
Summary: Nozel only becomes aware of the extreme lengths his siblings were going to torment their youngest when Nebra, of all people, appears sweaty and disheveled in his office, stuttering and stammering about how Solid has Noelle trapped in a water bubble in the rose garden and she isn't movingOr: Solid nearly drowns Noelle. Nozel flips his shit and becomes the halfway decent big brother he was meant to be.
Relationships: Noelle Silva & Nozel Silva
Series: Silva Sibling Series [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2000845
Comments: 50
Kudos: 302





	The Boy Who Played with Water

**Author's Note:**

> Ages here: Nozel 19, Nebra 14, Solid 9, Noelle 5. Noelle could have been any age in those flashbacks because Anime so I made an executive decision and made her on the younger side. So Solid and Nebra don't have their grimoires, (just a shit ton of magic and irresponsibility) Nozel is away with the magic knights more often than not and Noelle is beginning to demonstrate her magic but it's obviously all over the place. See the end for more notes (AKA rant on how the Silva family SUCKS)

Nozel only becomes aware of the extreme lengths his siblings were going to torment their youngest when Nebra, of all people, appears sweaty and disheveled in his office, stuttering and stammering about how Solid has Noelle trapped in a water bubble in the rose garden and _she isn't moving._

It's most definitely an indecent amount of magic for a royal to use in his own house to what essentially amounts to Nozel descending the stairs and exiting the back door but upon seeing the mess that awaits him in the palace gardens, he can't bring himself to regret the frankly ostentatious display of creation magic that brought him there in record time. The garden- for starters- is ruined. The beds are waterlogged and some considerable force (and Nozel has a pretty intelligent idea of what) has demolished the flower heads and broken the stems, leaving what was once their mother's favourite garden in a shamefully decrepit state.

The second thing Nozel sees is his little brother kneeling in the dirt, (utterly unbefitting of royalty, Nozel can't help but think) mud coating his pants and his wet hair plastered to his forehead, mouth agape and palm still outstretched.

Noelle, regrettably, was the last thing he saw, collapsed in a heap in the mud with her skin tinged blue.

'I don't think she's breathing' Nozel vaguely hears Solid say, snapping him out of his horrified stupor as he crosses the courtyard towards the unmoving body (she's not dead, on the grave of their mother please, let her be alive) of his sister.

Solid is looking at Nozel as if he's asking a question. Like he's expecting an answer, like Nozel is going to absolve him of this somehow and Noelle's lips are _blue_ and any time he may have wasted verbally cutting his brother to ribbons he uses instead to hiss for him to fetch the family healers 'right NOW'.

And then he is on his knees in the mud -the same way he had mentally berated Solid for not a moment ago- rolling his sister, tiny and small-boned onto her back and begins to pump her chest.

Nozel prays that theory here is enough because he has never in his life had to do this in practice, he has always been fortunate enough to have a healer on hand in the field. The first-aid classes- taught on the off chance that disaster strikes without a healing mage to hand- are rudimentary and half-forgotten but Nozel thinks, as he counts the compressions and the breaths and tries not to think about how water bubbles from Noelle's mouth with every press of his hands against her breastbone, that if this gets Noelle breathing again he'll have _every_ knight working under him practicing until they drop.

He feels the CRACK of Noelle's ribs breaking and almost sobs with despair ( _she's still not breathing_ ) before his iron-clad focus takes hold once more. He keeps going.

Nozel doesn't keep track of how many sets he goes through, just knows that it's as many as it takes for the healers to finally arrive. Even as they begin to flap around him, Noelle draws in a sharp gasp and then lets out a horrifying gurgling noise which he recognizes well enough that he has Noelle rolled towards him onto her side when she proceeds to retch, vomit mingling with mud. He can't even bring himself to be disgusted by it, even when she unwittingly gets some on his pants.

He's too relieved that she still lives.

The relief is short lasted. Back in the hospital wing, as healers buzz around Noelle, (who is conscious, but blearily so) Nozel overhears snippets of conversation that make his stomach flip with nausea; he hears about secondary drowning, of fluid in the lungs or being absorbed into the blood. Noelle could still die ten years before receiving her grimoire, before joining the magic knights. She's never even seen a _battlefield_ and she nearly took her last breaths in their own godforsaken backyard. She was supposed to be _safe_ here! And through Nozel's ignorance and neglect, she'd very nearly met her end at the hands of her own family.

Nozel draws one hand over his face and tries not to scream.

For his own continued peace of mind, (or what is left of it) Nozel excuses himself from the room, immediately coming face to face with his still sodden, guilt ridden siblings who had the presence of mind not to even try and elude their eldest brother. Wrung out from adrenaline, still wearing clothes caked in mud and vomit Nozel is not. In. The. Mood.

But Nozel is the eldest and a soldier and shit scared for the welfare of his youngest sibling. Not to mention he still has _no idea_ of what on earth went on before he arrived on scene. So, he straightens his posture, narrows his gaze and with all the military sternness of a magic knight, demands a report.

What follows is the shame faced and half mumbled re-telling of how his nine year old brother and fourteen year old sister (old enough to know better, sheltered enough to believe they didn't have to) had sought out Noelle earlier that morning for an unwilling game of hide and splash. The two reluctantly testify how they had stolen Noelle's favourite toy (clumsily repaired by young fingers inexperienced with a needle) to buy her compliance as bait. Teary and distraught, Noelle had complied.

Much of the telling thereafter he reads in between the lines.

When he hears, 'The little sneak wouldn't play fair' he imagines how Noelle had been unwittingly successful in avoiding her pursuers by crouching amongst the flower beds in the now-ruined rose garden, most likely sniffling, shivering and afraid.

When he hears 'She was getting her clothes all dirty- I had to grab her!' Nozel pictures Nebra pulling her sister roughly from her hiding place, possibly by the hair as he had seen her do before, crowing and triumphant.

When he hears 'I didn't mean- I just wanted her to use her magic! I wanted her to prove her worth as a Silva!' Nozel sees in his mind's eye how Solid and Nebra's glee at Noelle's unsuccessful attempts to escape the sphere would have turned into dismay and unease once she became limp and unmoving.

How Nebra had probably panicked, taken off towards the house to fetch Nozel.

How Solid had probably tried to stop her, the cry of a child that doesn't want to get in trouble. How he had cancelled the spell- too late and sat gaping and terrified when he realised Noelle was no longer breathing.

Nozel takes exactly five seconds (he counts them in his head) to steady his pounding heart rate after this jumbled testimony. Then he raises one hand and, very swiftly _slaps_ his younger brother with his open palm around the face with a resounding SMACK!

Solid's head snaps to the side and he raises a trembling hand to cup his cheek, disbelief and anger warring on his face. 'You little IDIOTS!' Nozel snarled, 'Of all the fool-hardy-'

'It was an accident!' wailed Nebra suddenly falling to her knees in guilty despair, 'We didn't want to kill her, hurt her even! It was supposed to be a prank, _a harmless prank_ we _never_ -'

'A harmless prank?!' Nozel roared, the last thread of his admittedly frayed temper snapping.

'She nearly _died_! Could still die! In our own backyard! She is your _sister_ , for gods' sake, your _charge_! Not some plaything or doll for you to batter and break! You know better than to _play_ with elements, you know Noelle cannot control her own magic, let alone defend herself against yours! Did you think a _murdered sibling_ would bolster the _nobility_ of our house? Would endear yourself to _me_?'

'But if Noelle could-'

'Noelle is FIVE!' Nozel bellowed, 'She has barely had the chance to demonstrate her magical power and even less time to explore it with the two of you terrorising her at every turn!'

And this is true he realises. Noelle had shown a proficiency with water magic early, as was usual for members of the royal family. Unlike her siblings before her however she hasn't had chance to properly practice, too busy fleeing from the machinations of her elders, self-esteem and confidence beaten down by their taunts and jeers.

No _wonder_ her control was lacking. It reflected the complete and utter helplessness of her situation, a child against those more powerful and unprincipled than her.

Nebra paled, mouthing silent denials of her wrongdoing in the face of her elder brother's fury, a pathetic wreck cowering on the marbled floor. Solid, comparatively, appeared to have recovered from the temporary shock that Nozel's slap had sent him into.

'She's an _embarrassment_!' Solid shouted, spots of pink rage offsetting how one side of his face was reddened. 'Why do you _care_? You never said anything before! You know the useless insect wasn't worth Mother _dying_ so _she_ could live! If Mother-'

'If Mother could see you now, she would be _ashamed_.' Nozel hissed acidly and Solid flinched as hard as if slapped again.

Nebra's eyes filled with shocked tears and she let out a small sound as if she had been punched very swiftly in the stomach. Solid's angry flush and his righteous indignation were gone as quickly as abruptly as they came. For their faults, Nozel knew they remembered their mother fondly and the idea that she would be ashamed of them resonated painfully. Nozel glared at the subdued pair and let out a sharp exhale, letting his mind wander briefly to remembrance.

'Our Mother... She knew that giving birth to Noelle would likely result in her death. She accepted the consequences wholeheartedly so great was the love for her children.'

Nozel sharpened his gaze once more, saw his siblings wilted, tearful and coloured with shame. He was not finished.

'Noelle could have been born without a drop of magic and Mother wouldn't have cared a whit. You dishonour her by pretending for even a moment that Noelle does not deserve the life that she was freely given. And as for myself-'

Here he paused, the unpleasant heat of shame rising in him also. He had been distant, let his siblings run amok, been unkind to Noelle and had utterly failed to correct the misdeeds of his brother and sister. Had they had not nearly killed her, Nozel was uncomfortably unsure that he would have changed this pattern of behaviour, stopped perpetrating the cycle of abuse.

It was a disarming notion.

'As for myself- I too, have failed. Since our mother's death I have barely been home. When I have been present, I have been shamefully, even wilfully ignorant of your behaviour towards Noelle.'

From where their heads had dropped in shame, they jerked up, stunned at hearing their eldest admit to fault, at his upset over _Noelle_ of all people. Nozel continued, some of the weariness that had crept in slipping from his tone and a steely undertone returning tenfold to replace it.

'No longer. Consider my tolerance for your childish games nullified. You have been petty, spiteful and downright abusive. If it would not reflect so badly on our family name, I would have you _both_ disowned'

Nozel looked coldly between Solid and Nebra. Both were shaking now, their brief astonishment given way to horror at the potential consequences of their wrongdoing. Nebra was crying, both hands clasped over her mouth to muffle her sobs. Nozel was unmoved.

'As a consequence of my inaction you both demonstrated a lack of control and judgement unbefitting of the House of Silva. You have endangered our reputation and more importantly our sister's life'

'I have clearly been lax in my duties here. I will take an absence from the Silver Eagles effective immediately. From this moment _neither_ of you are permitted to be charged with the care of Noelle. Your possessions will be relocated to a separate wing of the estate immediately until I have assessed you to be worth my trust, _which you will earn_ '

Nozel does not bother to dismiss them verbally. He does it by turning sharply on his heel and striding towards his rooms. He is long overdue for a bath.

Refreshed, clean and changed Nozel begins the arduous task of turning the household upside down. He summons the madam of the household staff and issues orders for new quarters to be cleaned and furnished for Nebra and Solid and makes it known that neither of them are to be admitted anywhere near Noelle for the foreseeable future.

The madam, who has worked with the family for years knows better than to comment or respond to these orders in any other manner but a polite curtsey. However, Nozel does not think he imagines the gleam of approval in her eyes as she sweeps from the room.

Nozel composes a letter to his captain requesting a leave of absence. He writes of a family upheaval (true enough), a sick sibling (nearly dying surely counts) and complications keeping him at home (a small embellishment). Nozel then collects some paperwork from his study (billing for the Silver Eagles, to soften the blow of his squad losing one of their best fighters) and returns to the healing wing.

The healers assure him that Noelle is stable. Nozel hears the 'for now' that they leave off the end of that sentence but in an uncharacteristic bout of leniency does not call them out on it. Nozel is not planning to leave Noelle's side until she is fit and well again and so any developments would likely be caught by him in the first instance regardless.

It occurs to him, vaguely, that he is being almost comedically overprotective. He dismisses this thought immediately. Five years negligence almost saw his sister die a death that would give most senior magic knights screaming nightmares. He owes her this vigilance.

For a couple of hours, he sits at Noelle's bedside, completing his paperwork as she slept. His hand, at some point and of its own volition has ended up holding Noelle's own. His dwarfs hers. He swallows hard. She's just so _small_. Her braids are undone, and she's curled up like a pill bug making the bed look disproportionally huge to her comparatively small frame. A smaller target.

He squeezes her hand gently, bows his head and gets to work.

Noelle gains consciousness a couple of hours later, long enough for Nozel to have nearly completed not only the required billing but the outlines of the budget for the Silver Eagles for the next two months.

His first indication she has awakened is Noelle's surprised gasp of 'Nozel?' which startles him enough that he nearly drops the stack of paper balanced on his knee in his surprise.

'Noelle.' he greets quietly and suddenly remembers how he's still holding her hand. His own surprise is echoed in his little sister's face, still too pale and drawn with fatigue. She raises her head slightly and then sits up abruptly wincing at the sudden movement, bleary eyes trying to squint into the dimmed halls of the hospital wing, suddenly wary.

'Ar- Are Solid and Nebra here too?' she asks, voice cracking with what might be dryness but what Nozel thinks is more likely to be fear. Her sudden vigilance makes a painful sort of sense that resonates with Nozel as a painful pang.

'No.' He says firmly and in a gesture so automatic it takes even him off guard, he reaches out with the hand not currently holding onto Noelle's own and smooths back her hair lightly, pausing at the initial flinch before she leaned into the soothing contact, too starved of comforting touch to refuse it. She gazed up at him, wide-eyed in trust.

'No, Noelle. They're not here. And they won't be here when you wake up'.

'Good' Noelle yawned, seemingly assured of her safety for now. 'Their games are no fun. I _always_ lose.'

Nozel hummed in absent agreement and continued to gently detangle the snarls in Noelle's hair. It was a meditative task that relieved the tension he hadn't been able to rid himself since that morning. As soothing as the task was for Nozel, Noelle seemed doubly entranced. She was practically swaying on the spot, half asleep whilst still sitting up.

Reluctantly, Nozel removed his hand from her hair to a mewl of protest (his lips absolutely did _not_ quirk in amusement) and he gently guided her down to the pillows so that she was lying on her side once more.

'Go to sleep Noelle.' he murmured and made to remove his hand from hers to pull the blanket up further around her shoulders, only for Noelle to stop him, squeezing his hand. She hardly possessed enough strength in her tiny fist to stop him or hurt him, but it made him pay attention. Noelle had opened her eyes again and is staring at him in teary disappointment. Nozel begins to feel panic of one who has very little exposure to small children.

'You're not leaving, are you?' Her bottom lip begins to tremble, her body beginning to shake slightly in tandem. 'They don't play fair! They'll say I cheated but I don't even know what the rules _are_!'

'Noelle.'

Nozel squeezes her hand gently while he makes to kneel by the bed, the better to make eye contact with girl. 'You are safe here. I promise you. On my honour as a magic knight, Solid and Nebra are on the other side of the estate and they will stay there. You've nothing to fear. Go to sleep. I won't leave.'

Nozel stays exactly as he is until he is sure that Noelle is out for the count. Whereupon he gently removes his hand from her grasp and goes to inform the matron that he'll be staying in the infirmary for the night.

Nozel doesn't realise he's fallen asleep until he's startled awake with a jolt to the sound of Noelle coughing like she's trying to hack up a lung, pink faced and eyes streaming with the physical effort. Alarmed, Nozel moves automatically to perch on the side of the bed and pauses in concern when feels the bed shake with the force of her shivers even as he places a hand on her shoulder and feels the heat radiating through the cotton of her nightie. A fever then. Not good.

'Can you sit up?' he asks, and she manages to nod miserably and Nozel helps her to sit with her knees to her chest, one hand still on her back.

'Hurts.' she rasps, coughs ceasing for the moment. This would please him, but the absence of hacking just makes it obvious that her breathing is too fast, too shallow and she's wheezing on the exhale. Mind made up, Nozel shifts so one arm is around Noelle's back and shifts so she is sitting in his lap, head resting on his chest beneath his chin. Then he stands and hastens to the matron's office, carrying Noelle with him.

If the matron is at all taken aback by the eldest prince of the house appearing on her doorstep in his nightclothes with his sister snuggled into his breastbone, she appears admirably unruffled.

She merely waves the both of them into her office and makes to extricate Noelle from her brother. This is quickly made impossible when Noelle immediately winds her arms around her brothers’ neck and refuses to let go with a soft keening noise. Nozel can't bring himself to force the issue after a gently attempt to remove himself from her grip elicited a pitiful whine of discontent, and the return of the exhausted and pained tears of a child who is acutely uncomfortable and in pain.

Nozel orders the healer to work around him.

After listening to and tapping Noelle's chest, her breathing and feeling her forehead the healer clucks grimly and diagnoses Noelle with inflammation of the lungs much Nozel's alarm. She hastens to reassure him that it is perfectly treatable, and one of the more common complications from a near drowning. Nozel bites his tongue, thinking better of berating the healer that there was nothing 'near' about it.

 _She hadn't been breathing_.

The healer recommends steam for Noelle's chest and wakens one of the junior healers to prepare the steam room. She also prepares an herbal tea of basil, ginger and honey, to treat the fever she says. Noelle makes a face at the taste of the brew but is pleasantly compliant and drinks the entire mugful that Nozel feeds her without complaint. Nozel vaguely remembers doing something similar with Solid as an infant. He hadn't been very good at it- Solid had wriggled and fussed until Mother had laughed and taken him gently from Nozel's inexperienced arms. Seems he's gotten better with age.

The steam rooms feel muggy and humid to Nozel, but Noelle seems to be breathing easier from where she's half dozing, drooling into his nightshirt. He's combing his hands through her hair again, for lack of anything better to do- and regardless, it seems to settle her.

'Big brother?' Noelle mumbled sleepily.

'Hmm?'

'Will you leave again? When I'm better?'

Nozel's hand stilled for a moment and then continued the motion as if he'd never stopped in the first place.

'I will have to leave to attend to my duties with the Silver Eagles, of course.'

Noelle nodded tiredly, as if this was already expected. Nozel coughed a little. This. This didn't come naturally.

'H-however. That is- Noelle. It has come to my attention that we- myself and your siblings- have not behaved in manner that befits our stations. As royalty, yes but also as family.'

He can feel his face flush faintly with the awkwardness of this. Nozel is less than accustomed to apologising, to admitting to wrongdoing. Noelle, for all that she's young must nevertheless know this because she's eyeing him with an impressive amount of scepticism for a five-year old.

Nozel decides to cut to the chase, the bush has been beaten beyond belief.

'I'm sorry, Noelle.' and his voice nearly breaks to his utter humiliation. 'When you were born I- you look so much like our Mother. I was so afraid that you wouldn't be strong enough. And when your magic began to manifest-'

Noelle, still plastered to his chest flinches at the mention of her misfiring magic. It comes easily to Nozel somehow to shush her softly, swiping at her cheek with her thumb to wipe at a stray humiliated tear.

'Forgive me, Noelle. It was no excuse. I feared the worst and it clouded my judgement. Our siblings were cruel and so was I, in my acceptance of their disdain as well as my own.'

Nozel took a deep steadying breath. He blamed his lack of undisturbed sleep on his apparently turbulent emotional state.

'You did _nothing_ to deserve it, Noelle. The events of yesterday or the ones that preceded them. I- I am truly sorry.' There is silence in the wake of his apology for a while, the only sounds being the whoosh of warm air being pumped through the pipes, the faint whistle of Noelle breathing. The quiet goes on long enough that he is startled when a small hot hand comes up to gently pat at his face sleepily.

'S'okay big brother Nozel' Noelle murmurs, 'I forgive you. You saved me from Solid and Nebra and you didn't even use _magic_!'

Her hand fists into Nozel's nightshirt and she hums in contentment. 'I wanna be _just like you_ when I grow up, Nozel.'

Nozel huffed in amusement and shifts slightly so that her head is cushioned on his shoulder, holding his baby sister as she hadn't been held since she was a babe in arms. He buries his face in her damp hair to hide his smile, places his lips to the crown of her head.

'You will be the best of us all, Noelle. I have no doubt.'

**Author's Note:**

> Tadah! The end. No idea where this idea came from and it's probably less than perfect. I haven't dabbled with fanfiction since I was fourteen so I would like the think I got a little bit better :/ But this was hard. Trying to give a guy like Nozel emotions? Tough work guys.
> 
> I found the Silva family HIGHLY in contempt in the anime. Tiny Noelle was TINY and PRECIOUS and I honestly don't understand how they thought any of that was okay. Nozel is the only one of them to say sorry for any of it and reveals his intentions weren't exactly spiteful? But still. Not okay. Someone should have upped and given Solid a slap BEFORE I had to write a fic for it. I think of Nozel as being the most reasonable and for all his faults he has the greatest capacity for change? Like, he accepted Asta as his rival and was actually somewhat polite (nay, nice) to him :o I don't picture him being around much for Noelle's youth (we don't see much of him in flashback, it's mainly Solid. Grrr) and I definitely don't see him as a physical abuser. Like, I don't believe he'd ever use his magic against Noelle, a) because that's fucked up, b) because it would be beneath him to use his magic against someone weaker than him, c) it would reflect badly on the house of Silva. It would probably lessen them A LOT in the eye of the public, especially considering the massive power imbalance there is there. I also see him as someone who values his family, but isn't overly demonstrative about it. And because that doesn't really fly with me, I wanted to put him in a scenario where his younger siblings cross the line and nearly kill one of their own. I like to think that I'm correct in thinking that Nozel would NOT be okay with this, and that no matter how emotionally closed off you are, some things are instinctual. Like comforting your tiny baby sister who's ill, sick and scared after nearly being murdered. And so, this fic was born. If you wanna rant about the Silvas with me, comment below! I'm always happy to talk nerd with people :D Any feedback would also be appreciated.


End file.
